Articles by MelW

(Xinhua) A controversial law to extend the spying powers of New Zealand’s foreign intelligence agency was passed by Parliament late Wednesday by a margin of just 61 votes to 59. The legislation, which allows the […]

(Xinhua) Labour Party leader David Shearer resigned as the party leader on today. In a short statement, Shearer said he had lost the confidence of a number of Members of Parliament (MPs) and was stepping […]

(UPI) Army Pfc. (Private first class) Bradley Manning, betraying no emotion, was sentenced this week to 35 years behind bars for giving more than 700,000 secret U.S. files to WikiLeaks. The sentence was considerably less […]

(UPI) A US woman is facing charges for allegedly rubbing her baby’s feces on his face to make him ill, police said. Lauren Buzard was arrested after being caught on camera smearing her son’s feces […]

(Xinhua) Valerie Adams  has won her forth consecutive world shot put title. Adams won the final in Moscow on Monday with a throw of 20.88 meters, 47cm ahead of Christina Schwanitz of Germany. Schwanitz took […]

By John Macdonald (Xinhua) Prime Minister John Key announced Monday that the government is to set up a ministerial inquiry into the Fonterra botulism scare to allay consumer fears in China. Key told a press […]

(UPI) BP was ordered to appear in a U.S. court this week to explain why it shouldn’t pay $130 million (USD) in its multibillion-dollar Gulf Coast oil-spill settlement. U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Shushan issued the […]

By John Macdonald New Zealand’s unemployment rate rose to 6.4 percent in the quarter ending June, up from 6.2 percent the previous quarter despite signs of improvement in the labor market, the government’s statistics agency […]

(UPI) The Syria’s civil war could end within months, President Bashar Assad said in a speech at a dinner marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. “All the problems we face are connected […]

By John Macdonald New Zealand’s national carrier and its main airport Monday signed a partnership to target new areas of the Chinese tourism market and to promote New Zealand as a gateway to the Pacific […]

The maker of Karicare, an infant formula, has recalled two products from the New Zealand market. A statement on Nutricia’s website said on Sunday that safety for customers is its primary concern. The products being […]

(UPI)  Before being sentenced to life in prison without parole, kidnapper/rapist Ariel Castro told a Cleveland courtroom this week, “I am not a monster. “People are trying to paint me as a monster, but I’m […]

(UPI) One of four elderly men held as prisoners in a house one of the men described as a dungeon died six days after he was rescued, US police said. Police answering a 911 call […]

(UPI) The New Zealand military received the assistance of U.S. intelligence agencies to monitor a journalist’s telephone calls, a report revealed. The  Sunday Star Times said the monitoring of journalist Jon Stephenson came in the […]

(UPI)  Major explosions at a US propane plant caused multiple deaths and injuries and forced residents more than a mile away to evacuate, officials said. At least 15 people were unaccounted for  following the series […]

(UPI) A passenger bus collided with cars on a viaduct in Italy Sunday and plunged nearly 100 feet into a ravine, killing at least 36 people, authorities said. Agenzia Giornalistica Italia reported the crash occurred […]

(UPI) Pope Francis jetted back to the Vatican Sunday night, hours after leading an estimated 3 million faithful in a mass held on a Rio de Janeiro beach. The pontiff’s plane lifted off about 7:30 […]

Lives still hang in the balance as rescuers desperately try to pull people from the wreckage of a train after it derailed outside the northern Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela, killing at least 77 […]

By Henry Chu Los Angeles Times He’s the boy without a name but with a gilded destiny. The one baby to rule them all – at least the people of Britain – was born to […]

(UPI) Chinese rescuers looked for survivors this week in northwest Gansu province where an earthquake killed at least 89 people and injured nearly 700 more. The massive rescue and relief work with the military assisting […]

Another severe earthquake has shaken the country, this time at magnitude 6.5. The quake hit at 5.09pm and centered 20km east of seddon, at a depth of 17km. It follows a 5.8 quake that shook […]

A woman has pleaded guilty to sex charges after having a baby with a 13-year-old boy. Cecelia Rona Hale, 32, appeared in Manukau District Court today and confessed to  two charges of sexual connection with […]

Two earthquakes have rattled Central New Zealand today. The first, magnitude 5.7, struck at 9.06am 30km east of Seddon. It was 16km deep. GNS classified it as severe, and it was felt as far away […]

By John Macdonald Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully Wednesday expressed “deep disappointment” over the failure to secure an international marine reserve in the Ross sea, but vowed to keep pushing the case. Talks on proposals […]

By John Macdonald The New Zealand government has bought the site of a building that collapsed, killing 115 people during the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, it was revealed today. The purchase of the Canterbury Television […]

A “massive explosion” hit South Auckland on today, with firefighters now battling a blaze at a scrap metal factory. The fire service was alerted to the explosion just before 7pm. A fire service spokesman said […]

(UPI) A jury in Florida Saturday night found neighbourhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman not guilty in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin. The verdict came after the Seminole County jury of six women […]

(UPI) The recovery of five more bodies Saturday brought the death toll in the Lac-Megantic, Quebec, train disaster to 33 with 17 people still missing, police said. Investigators had identified nine of the 33, but […]

UPI National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden said he would ask Russia for temporary asylum Friday as a step in gaining asylum in Latin America. Snowden’s statement came as he met with human rights groups […]

UPI French authorities said a train derailment south of Paris has left at least eight people dead and trapped many others in overturned train cars. Broadcaster BFM-TV quoted police as saying at least eight people […]

Families of the 26 victims of the school shootings in Connecticut may receive $281,000 (USD) each under a proposal by a donations distribution committee. The proposal was presented Thursday at a public hearing, by the […]

UPI The death of a girl at San Francisco General Hospital Friday raised the death toll from the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 to three, authorities said. The girl, described only as a minor, […]

UPI Ireland’s Parliament has overwhelmingly passed amended legislation allowing abortion if the mother’s life is at risk. It passed Friday by a 127-31 vote. A provision to allow abortion if a pregnant woman is acutely […]

UPI Saudi Princess Meshael Alayban, who was arrested in California on human trafficking charges, was released on $5 million bail, court officials said. Alayban was arrested early Wednesday in her Irvine home for allegedly forcing […]

(UPI) The head of the company whose runaway train exploded in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, said Wednesday firefighters may have contributed to the deadly accident. Edward Burkhardt — chairman of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway and […]

(UPI) Casey Anthony, the US woman acquitted of killing her daughter, has agreed to pay $25,000 (USD) in a dispute over rights to her life story, court papers show. The trustee in Anthony’s bankruptcy case […]